FFXI Plot-holes and unclear issues

[Ophannus]

Never played Vagarant story, was the translation good compared to ff8? He isn't credited with FFXI's localization but he could be newish. I don't think FFXI dialogue was this good until WoTG started, before that it was pretty generic.

Although...some NPCs have extremely cleveer speech impediments or tendencies like the map marker npc that speaks completely in m words....so annoying and cool

[Ophannus]

"Good day! I'm a Merry Map Marker, and I'd be emphatically ectatic if you'd allow me to mark your magical map! A markless map of Al Zhabbi is like a motherless maiden, meandering through a miasmatic mire of misery. Marvelous! Now allow me a minute to make all my marks!". "Our local minstrel of melodies can be found here. His mirthful musicalities may help you to recall misplaced memories.Ah, and in the case you might wish to mask a meritorious moniker and replace it with one a mite more merited, a traveling bard strums upon his melilflous harp here. And mayhap you are immeasurably motivated to compete in the midieval mayham of Conflict? Might I suggest you mingle with the modest Pursiviant located here? Methinks I have marked your magical map with as many marks as I might manage.Monitoring and managing your marks as a simple as merely openning your map and selecting Markers from the main menu. If the marks on your map might vanish mope not like a melancholy milksop. Make another meeting with me and I shall make it my mission to mark the map once more. Good day milord. May your marches across meadow and mountain be markedly memorable!.

[Apelila]

He's not new he's been there since the late 90's. Here's a good read on the translation processes that SE has undergone since the SNES era. Smith mentioned on page 5, i just know the name because Vagrant Story's writing is stuck out that well.

[arus2001]

"Good day! I'm a Merry Map Marker, and I'd be emphatically ectatic if you'd allow me to mark your magical map! A markless map of Al Zhabbi is like a motherless maiden, meandering through a miasmatic mire of misery. Marvelous! Now allow me a minute to make all my marks!". "Our local minstrel of melodies can be found here. His mirthful musicalities may help you to recall misplaced memories.Ah, and in the case you might wish to mask a meritorious moniker and replace it with one a mite more merited, a traveling bard strums upon his melilflous harp here. And mayhap you are immeasurably motivated to compete in the midieval mayham of Conflict? Might I suggest you mingle with the modest Pursiviant located here? Methinks I have marked your magical map with as many marks as I might manage.Monitoring and managing your marks as a simple as merely openning your map and selecting Markers from the main menu. If the marks on your map might vanish mope not like a melancholy milksop. Make another meeting with me and I shall make it my mission to mark the map once more. Good day milord. May your marches across meadow and mountain be markedly memorable!.

This would be a writing process called alliteration. And while I'm not trying to sound like a snarky ho, I'm getting the vibe you went to a rather mediocre public school if some of the earlier listed words left you stumped.

To be fair, though, I do like the presence of such in video games. Were it not for RPGs back in the day, my reading would probably have been a lot worse. It also made reading shitty books in class all the more irksome when their plots held absolutely no interest to me.

[Ophannus]

I know what alliteration/assonance is. I'm just commending him on his creativity. It's pretty difficult to write a page's worth of alliterated dialogue that's also humorous and witty. Also none of those words I mentioned a few posts ago were in any of my GRE/GMAT books, they're pretty obscure. Hell many of the people I know who went to expensive private schools or competitive magnet schools don't know some of these words.


Side note...I thought the Seed crystal was the mother crustal since all it does is blab about retuning vanadiel to void and hat we're all its children, but then Cait Sith says provenance is the mother crystal...

[Spira]

I'm glad for how far the localization work has come.

FFXII's script was nothing short of stellar. But looking back at FF8, it wasn't that bad - just very plain and contemporary, which is fitting considering the setting is very modern.

FFXI being the first major online MMO was probably handled by numerous people in the process. The dialogue in the early days were definitely more simplistic than it is now. But once again not necessary worse off. Even in the early days, you'd see the structure differences between races. Elvaans and their archaic fluff, Hume being the normal, Galka (cant really remember theirs) probably shorter sentences, Mithra with their cat-like rrrs and Tarus with their rhythm and rhyme. Zilart/CoP/ToA scripts marked a gradual shift to being more pop-culture centric - making a lot of it more relatable to the audience.. but i'm most impressed by how they bothered to change the way people talk in WotG. Like, the words they used were more "old" even if they weren't archaic.

There are times when you know the localization crew are having fun tho... Windurstian Ministers all have accents from a different European country, and Shantotto (half)rhymes on every sentence (she doesnt do it in Japanese).. more recently, the magian moogles all have different accents.. and the ToA voidwatch officer speaks with a southern accent.

In terms of vocab tho, the recent stuff have really been introducing me to new words.. like abyssite/periapt names.. ability names, the CS you mentioned...

Too much of flavor in the text is a bad thing tho.. in FFXIV I HATED Limsa Lominsa because common NPC dialogue was so hard to read. Even elsewhere, everyone was just unnecessarily verbose.


...

anyway back to topic.

Seed Crystal is not the mothercrystal. its a sentient primordial crystal summoned by the echoes of Memoro de la stono, resonating from Emeline's heart, to destroy the world.
i dont even think the mothercrystal itself was sentient

[Apelila]

Galka doesn't necessarily have an text accent, per se. They're introverted. A lot of their stories are indian/spiritual/connected to the earth vein. A lot of CS with a Galka NPC usually have them making observations about the nature of others/nature of nature to themselves/camera.

I'm continually impressed with their ability to pull out/make up a word for an entire groups of nouns I didn't know existed/didn't exist before. See: Most of the names from the AF3 sets, abyssea, etc.

I also noticed that in 14. NPC's could be short, but most just wouldn't shut the hell up.

[Karbuncle]

Voidwatch Officers, especially Horst and Main-Guy in port, always struck me as an Scottish type accent. Guess Its one of those things where its rough to tell. Pretty sure he calls me Lass though.

[Ophannus]

So was the seed crystal lying? It keeps talking about vanadiel returning to its primordial state when the gate of paradise opens and keeps referring to people as its children. After you defeat the crystal, the CS even echoes the opening prophecy of it "it began with a stone"

[Septimus]

I personally feel that ACP/the Seed Crystal was just a poorly conceived storyline that doesn't really fit in with the lore of the game and has absolutely no resonance or lasting impact with the overall storyline of the game. There was not a single thing changed from that set of missions, and the missions would have resolved in exactly the same way had we stayed in our mog houses and knitted a sweater. The threat was not ended by adventurer interaction; it still tried to destroy the world after we beat it. It was ultimately beaten by the "antiphon" which was never mentioned before ACP, hell I don't remember it being mentioned before the last cutscene. In the end it was an all just a dream asspull-ex-macinina shaggy dog story.

Aldo and Emeline forgot the events of APC, I think it is best for the players if we try to as well.

[Spira]

i think an ancient crystal saying that the creation of the land is its children isnt too far a stretch even tho its not the mothercrystal. but as septimus mentions there is no purpose to the plot of the entire scenario other than maybe giving the aldo/emeline tale a false sense of closure, and introducing you to the Theme of FF in FFXI.
I enjoyed it for nostalgia sake tho.. because it introduced said FF theme, as well as reenacted parts of the opening FMV in its ending CS. That and there was a very strong analogy of the player community being the antiphon that keeps Vanadiel going.

ultimately the 3 add ons were pretty roundabout stories. I was expecting the stories to reveal more about characters and their pasts and whatnot, but it really was just a lot of fluff.

p.s. LOL I LOVE TVTROPES

[Septimus]

i think an ancient crystal saying that the creation of the land is its children isnt too far a stretch even tho its not the mothercrystal. but as septimus mentions there is no purpose to the plot of the entire scenario other than maybe giving the aldo/emeline tale a false sense of closure, and introducing you to the Theme of FF in FFXI.
I enjoyed it for nostalgia sake tho.. because it introduced said FF theme, as well as reenacted parts of the opening FMV in its ending CS. That and there was a very strong analogy of the player community being the antiphon that keeps Vanadiel going.

ultimately the 3 add ons were pretty roundabout stories. I was expecting the stories to reveal more about characters and their pasts and whatnot, but it really was just a lot of fluff.

p.s. LOL I LOVE TVTROPES

But that's the thing, they could have given the Aldo/Emeline story a actual sense of closure and have a real and lasting effect on the story of Vana'diel, but instead went for the cop-out just a dream shit. Seriously, would it have been so hard to have a cutscene where Aldo visits his sister and her family in Selbnia and give Aldo and Emeline an extra line of dialog: "Thanks to you, I have been reunited with my long-lost sibling" when you talk to the NPCs? Are they lazy and didn't want to do it, understaffed and didn't have time to do it, or just bad writers and didn't think to do it?

And for as much as I love the Final Fantasy main theme, it just felt so wasted after watching that cutscene. Maybe I just really, really hate the all just a dream trope...

[Spira]

well they used it again.. at the end of Abyssea, if i recall correctly..

its just really sad that the scenario add-ons failed to deliver for people who are story enthusiasts. i have to be frank, Abyssea's storyline excited me more. Less action in the cutscenes.. but it was actually engaging.
Even Voidwatch felt more interesting. I guess it might be because of the worldly significance of Abyssea and Voidwatch. They make the storylines in the scenario addons seem trivial.

[Septimus]

well they used it again.. at the end of Abyssea, if i recall correctly..

its just really sad that the scenario add-ons failed to deliver for people who are story enthusiasts. i have to be frank, Abyssea's storyline excited me more. Less action in the cutscenes.. but it was actually engaging.
Even Voidwatch felt more interesting. I guess it might be because of the worldly significance of Abyssea and Voidwatch. They make the storylines in the scenario addons seem trivial.

Because the storylines to Abyssea and Voidwatch were proceeded by grand things.

Abyssea: giant maws appear across Vana'diel. Why are they there? What is causing this destruction? Go beat a bunch of mobs, find out more. Beat more mobs, here comes some bad news. Beat more mobs, time for a big revelation. Kill the Caturae, shocking swerve and access to a new zone. Beat Shinryu, resolution.

Voidwatch: planar rifts appear all over Vana'diel. Why are they there? What is causing this destruction? Go beat a bunch of mobs, find out more. Beat more mobs, well, you don't really find out more. Beat more mobs, not really more here either... Beat more mobs, finally some answers, kick-ass cutscene, and awesome new zone. Beat more mobs, find out more. Beat Provenance Watcher, resoultion.

Add-ons: some shit happens. Do you want the armor? Fetch quest, fetch quest, fetch quest, minor boss fight, fetch quest, fetch quest, beat a boss, unsatisfying cutscene that makes the whole thing a pointless Shaggy Dog story that is never mentioned again.

The problem is that the add-ons were bubble gum. A large portion of the people who play Final Fantasy games want steak when it comes to story. I would rate Abyssea and Voidwatch to be closer to a slim jim, but when you are story-famished you will take what you can get if it is substantial.

[Slycer]

The problem is that the add-ons were bubble gum.

To echo and expand on this, the problem is that everything added to the game over the past couple years has been story-less bull. The problem isn't so much that the Abyssea and Voidwatch stories suck. If you plow through the Abyssea or Voidwatch stories all at once, they aren't terri-bad, and they do fit in with pre-existing lore. The problem is that the Abyssea and Voidwatch stories each were unfurled, if you can call it that, over the course of a year. A freaking year for maybe 30 minutes of actual story content. Considering that one of the main draws of FFXI originally, at least to me, was a great breadth of story content, the last two years, with an hour or less of combined storyline, have been a huge disappointment to say the least.

[Spira]

i am still thoroughly annoyed tho. at least with abyssea they bothered to explain 'a god did it' thing.
with voidwatch, there is still no mention of how the monsters in the rifts are pouring forth, or the purpose of the warden, or whatever...

i am dissapoint

[Ophannus]

I wish there were more job specific quests that expand upon the lore of the jobs. I wish I knew more about Scholars for example. From what I gathered they're like D-student magicians, no real focus or dedication like WHM/BLM/RDM so they have no natural gifts or talent with magic(D Skills) but the Grimoire like has formulas and shortcuts, kind of like "Magic for Dummies". So while a Black Mage intrinsically knows tier 4 and tier 5 nukes through years of dedicated training to the art of black magic, a Scholar, like a remedial student of magic needs to like turn to page 451 to see the incantation for tier 4-5 nukes(Addendums). The Schema spells(Helix/Weather/Klimaform) are interesting though because we know the Zilart/Kuluu invented magic so then how do these new spells exist? Perhaps they are altered spells using SCH's ability to manipulate the art of magic and turn it into a science and by rebalancing the elemental energies or changing/adding incantations to it they were able to 'create' those new spells. As for Strategems I'm guessing they're like 'shortcuts' for magic. Perhaps Alacrity/Celerity stategems in the Grimoire are methods to speed up casting by shortening the vocal incantation or abbreviate the words. I just wish SE would elaborate more on job mechanics through job quests, like learning how or why Dragoon which happen to just be knights who control and fight dragons can jump hundreds of feet in the air with armor on etc.

[Odin'sLaw]

I wish there were more job specific quests that expand upon the lore of the jobs. I wish I knew more about Scholars for example. From what I gathered they're like D-student magicians, no real focus or dedication like WHM/BLM/RDM so they have no natural gifts or talent with magic(D Skills) but the Grimoire like has formulas and shortcuts, kind of like "Magic for Dummies". So while a Black Mage intrinsically knows tier 4 and tier 5 nukes through years of dedicated training to the art of black magic, a Scholar, like a remedial student of magic needs to like turn to page 451 to see the incantation for tier 4-5 nukes(Addendums). The Schema spells(Helix/Weather/Klimaform) are interesting though because we know the Zilart/Kuluu invented magic so then how do these new spells exist? Perhaps they are altered spells using SCH's ability to manipulate the art of magic and turn it into a science and by rebalancing the elemental energies or changing/adding incantations to it they were able to 'create' those new spells. As for Strategems I'm guessing they're like 'shortcuts' for magic. Perhaps Alacrity/Celerity stategems in the Grimoire are methods to speed up casting by shortening the vocal incantation or abbreviate the words. I just wish SE would elaborate more on job mechanics through job quests, like learning how or why Dragoon which happen to just be knights who control and fight dragons can jump hundreds of feet in the air with armor on etc.

A wizard did it and Fairy tail dragonslayers did the Dragoon thingy (also a Wizard), jokes aside i'd like to know the lore of what and why the jobs are classed as they are, i know we get AF quests but damn it that isn't enough

[Eurell]

Theres a lot of stuff I think in the job profiles that elmer posted threads of in this section.

[Septimus]

I wish there were more job specific quests that expand upon the lore of the jobs. I wish I knew more about Scholars for example. From what I gathered they're like D-student magicians, no real focus or dedication like WHM/BLM/RDM so they have no natural gifts or talent with magic(D Skills) but the Grimoire like has formulas and shortcuts, kind of like "Magic for Dummies". So while a Black Mage intrinsically knows tier 4 and tier 5 nukes through years of dedicated training to the art of black magic, a Scholar, like a remedial student of magic needs to like turn to page 451 to see the incantation for tier 4-5 nukes(Addendums). The Schema spells(Helix/Weather/Klimaform) are interesting though because we know the Zilart/Kuluu invented magic so then how do these new spells exist? Perhaps they are altered spells using SCH's ability to manipulate the art of magic and turn it into a science and by rebalancing the elemental energies or changing/adding incantations to it they were able to 'create' those new spells. As for Strategems I'm guessing they're like 'shortcuts' for magic. Perhaps Alacrity/Celerity stategems in the Grimoire are methods to speed up casting by shortening the vocal incantation or abbreviate the words. I just wish SE would elaborate more on job mechanics through job quests, like learning how or why Dragoon which happen to just be knights who control and fight dragons can jump hundreds of feet in the air with armor on etc.

A point of clarification, the Zilart and Kuluu didn't invent all of the magic that we know. Gunther Schultz II did invent several of the SCH spells that we know and love, but Doctor Shantotto has invented a few spells also. (Warp II for example.)